Laverne Cox Stars—Nay, Slays—in Beyoncé's New Ivy Park Campaign

Years ago, had you told Laverne Cox—the self-described “black transgender child raised by a single mother in Mobile, Alabama” who dreamed of being on television, who constantly practiced her pirouettes, and who fantasized during P.E. about a future on Broadway—that one day she'd star in a fashion campaign for Beyoncé's clothing line, she wouldn't have believed you. In fact, today the Emmy-nominated star of Orange Is the New Black and The Rocky Horror Picture Show still doesn't totally believe it. But that’s exactly what happened.

Cox joins models Grace Bol, Ralph Souffrant, and dancer Karen McDonald as the newest face of Ivy Park, the active wear line cofounded by Beyoncé and Sir Philip Green. She makes her debut in the brand's fall 2017 campaign, which is subtitled "Strong Beyond Measure." The actress managed to contain her excitement about the fact that she was tapped to model for Queen Bey just long enough to share some wisdom with Glamour, including how to always strive for more, believe in possibility, and find the strength to be your authentic self. Check it out—because it's good.

Glamour: Tell us about getting the call from Beyoncé that she wanted to cast you in this campaign.

Laverne Cox: The call came from my publicist—it was one of those things where you [couldn't] email; you have to call. I couldn’t believe it. There have been a lot of moments in my life that I just kind of can't believe, like, "Really? Really?!" I remember being so excited. I was in New York, and they wanted to do the [Ivy Park] shoot in L.A. So I flew in, and I got a really good night’s sleep, and I woke up at like three or four in the morning. I stretched. I made sure I was warmed up so I could really give everything I could give. You have to slay for Beyoncé! I hope she’s happy. It's a dream come true. Obviously, everyone knows I'm a huge Beyoncé fan.

When the Ivy Park line came out in spring 2016, I was in Toronto shooting The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The first video that came out, [Beyoncé] explains the park where she grew up and how she would go running there every day, and [how] now in her life, when she has a challenge, she goes back to that park, to that space where she was driven and motivated and knew she had to keep going, keep running, keep pushing. When she said, "Where’s your park?" I was crying; I was, like, bawling, girl. What was wonderful for me is that The Rocky Horror Picture Show was such a challenge—the pressure of Tim Curry’s legendary performance, the legendary film, and we were dancing and singing—I just wanted to give it my all. I was like, "Where’s the park in my head?" Where’s that place that I’m going to go to, to inspire me to push harder, to find my strength beyond measure?

LC: When I was a kid, I danced around everywhere. During physical education [classes], we had free play; when the other kids were doing free play, I was off to the side by myself, dancing to music in my head. I was imagining that one day I was going to be on television and on Broadway. That was the dream. I lived in my imagination, where I escaped. It was like, I’m going to push myself as hard as I can go—then that extended into dance class on the weekends, and then ballet class later, when I started studying classical ballet at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. It really started with dancing. When you train as a dancer, you understand you have to work exceptionally hard. I think dancers are the hardest-working people in show business. You have to push your body beyond where you thought it could go, to do two more pirouettes, to jump higher, to get your leg up higher, to move faster or to move more elegantly. It’s athleticism. Perfection doesn’t exist, but with classical ballet, there is an ideal, and I got obsessed with that ideal. In some ways, it was problematic because I don’t have an ideal ballet body, but the discipline is what I carry with me to this day. That’s my park, the discipline of dancing.

Glamour: It sounds like you had that discipline even before you started the dance classes.

LC: The dance class made me understand, though. Beyoncé says it was Mathew Knowles, her father, [who] made her understand discipline and work ethic, what it means to come in early before class starts to stretch, or to work on your dégagés or your pirouettes or whatever it was. I was a turner! So to come in early and then to stay afterward and to just soak up everything that the teacher has, that’s really what it’s about—the striving for excellence.

Glamour: The Ivy Park motto is "Strong beyond measure"—what does that mean to you?

LC: It’s those moments in our lives when we don’t know if we can lift more weight or do another repetition or deal with another heartache or heartbreak, but something inside us, that we didn’t know was there, gets us to that next repetition, gets us to that next date, gets us to that next thing that we want to accomplish. Strength beyond measure is when we allow ourselves to tap into something that's bigger than us, that's going to propel us to the next place, the next phase in our lives of excellence.

Glamour: And what does it mean to you personally to be cast in a lookbook that celebrates that strength?

LC: It's really humbling. I have to practice what I preach. It's humbling because it's a little bit of pressure to live up to it, and it's such an honor to be chosen by Beyoncé—to be chosen by the queen is incredible. It's indescribable, really. Beyoncé means so much to me. Throughout my transition, Beyoncé has been there as a style icon, an example of excellence, of beauty, of vulnerability. She's shown us and given us so much over the years. She's shared so much of herself, and it’s inspiring. It’s like, you can do that, and it’s OK—you can be political, you can be a feminist, you can speak out against police brutality and then be protested by police. That is strength beyond measure, when you have the courage of your convictions, and it’s not always popular with everyone, but you stand up and fight anyway. To be aligned with a brand like that feels very, very special. Certainly I’ve stood up in my life and spoken out, but it’s still scary and it’s still hard, especially in this political environment.

Glamour: What in your opinion makes for a successful fashion campaign?

LC: This is my first campaign. Thank you, Beyoncé—I started out really well! Hopefully, we connect [with] people on an emotional level. What connected me to Ivy Park the first time was Beyoncé’s message. You have to have good product too. Ivy Park is affordable. Everything’s mostly under $100 and [available in] double extra small to extra large; it's accessible, but the quality is great. Feel this hoodie—it’s fabulous. When you work out and you're all sweaty and you don’t want to get the chill, especially in the fall, you put this on. When I’m not doing the glamour thing, I’m always in a hoodie and leggings or jean shorts, and Ivy Park has some great bodysuits. You have to have a product that people want, and I think, hopefully, an emotional connection, so [it's] aspirational. What’s exciting about this brand is that because it’s Beyoncé and because you can mix it up—we just did a photo shoot for the Los Angeles Times where we mixed some Ivy Park with some high fashion—you can dress it up or down. It’s simultaneously attainable and aspirational, and that’s a great combination. I mean, who’s more aspirational than Beyoncé?!

Glamour: No one! What in general would you like to see more of in today’s fashion imagery?

LC: My stylist [Christina Pacelli] brings me things, and I get frustrated because I’m not a sample size. I’m like a size 10—an 8 on a good day—but I’m mostly a size 10. Being in Hollywood and borrowing things…a lot of things don’t always fit. Honestly, that’s why when I’m not working, I just love something that has some stretch—I mean, more lycra, more spandex! Lifestyle now is about being comfortable but still chic, finding those spaces where you can feel really cozy, like a good oversize hoodie I feel safe in, and it still feels luxurious.

Glamour: And what role does fashion play in your life?

LC: I’ve been realizing lately how horribly vain I am. I do believe that if I'm successful, it's because of my talent and intelligence, but there’s pretty privilege in the world—that's a reality. When I was a kid, in middle school, I started going to thrift stores and dressing myself. It was about announcing to the world who I was. That’s what fashion was for me, as a kid. You might have an idea of who you think I am, but I’m going to tell you through my fashion choices who I am. It was a way of self-expression; it was a way of telegraphing who I am—and that’s still what it is for me. It’s still about the story I want to tell to the world, how I want to communicate to the world. It’s not just about the clothes, but the clothes are a part of a larger story about who I am and how I want to exist in the world and how I want to be perceived and spoken to and about. When I was a kid, I would cut the crotches out of pants and I’d put suspenders on; I was constantly deconstructing things by making jumpsuits into pants and shorts. I was just constantly doing things with clothes, just play and express myself.

LC: I don’t think there’s a right or wrong. It’s about how you clearly reflect who you are; how you more clearly tell the story. Who are you? How do you want to transmit that to the world, and how do you more clearly say that? Then I have a philosophy, FFPS: fit, fabric, proportion, and silhouette. Proportion’s everything, really, knowing your body and understanding that. Those things have been really crucial for me. It’s about being clear about the story you want to tell to the world about who you are—and maybe a little bit of FFPS.

Glamour: When did you realize that?

LC: It’s been cumulative, but I remember, in middle school, I wore lab coats and ties. I also had those little buttons with rock bands on them, or ribbons as ties. I wore zippers as a tie—I thought that was really interesting. I started playing with things. I look back on it and it seems really silly, but it was just "This is who I am." It felt empowering. I wasn't ever trying to fit in when I was a kid; I was always trying to be myself. It was a search for self-expression and creativity. When I got to high school, to the Alabama School of Fine Arts, I really went crazy because I was in boarding school, so my mom wasn’t around to judge—I had a shaved head, and I started wearing makeup. I loved pillbox hats and leopard print and zebra and… [Laughs.] It was the beginnings of me expressing my femininity, which I had to do. It felt like life or death. I used to have temper tantrums when I was a kid, if I didn’t look the way I wanted to look when I left the house. I don’t really get like that anymore, but a few weeks ago I got really frustrated because I was like, "This isn’t what I want to say." I was in the closet, like, "Oh my God, I was like this as a teenager every day!" So it’s still in there a little bit.

Glamour: You said you were attracted to the original message behind Beyoncé's Ivy Park campaign. What do you want that to be in this lookbook?

LC: I hate the term "role model," but I like "possibility model." I love that anything is possible. I’m a black transgender woman from Mobile, Alabama, raised by a single mother from a working-class background, and I’m in a campaign with Beyoncé—anything is possible! When I got here, I got really lucky. I’m a lucky girl. But Oprah always reminds us that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Something that has prepared me for this moment has been connecting to something that’s bigger than me, connecting to a purpose that is bigger than me. Sometimes it’s about a political message, but just me existing, as an openly black transgender woman from a working-class background, thriving, is a political act. My brother always reminds me—I think he’s stealing this from Cornel West—that if you are black in America and you're alive, you deserve a round of applause. There are so many forces that don't want us to be alive, and so just being openly who I am, and happy and thriving, is a political act.

Glamour: And being the face of Beyoncé’s campaign!

LC: I can’t even process it—girl, I still can’t. The only way I can process it is thinking that I have been chosen by my higher power and Beyoncé, one and the same. No, there’s a power bigger than Beyoncé! I think I have been chosen by my creator for something bigger than me. Hopefully, I’m connected to that—that purpose and that power—and I’m allowing myself to be used. Oprah always says her prayer to God for years has been: Use me. Use me!